Fire Log: Dangerous BBQ Chef to Fire Department: Go Away!

Morning lockout

Sept. 24 – After a morning out, a resident of a Beech Street two family discovered they were locked out of their house. The fire personnel gained entry through an unlocked window on the second floor.

Now go away or I will taunt you a second time!

Sept. 24 – Around the same time the fire department was on Beech Street, Engine 1 was sent to Slade Street to assist on a medical call when they noticed a great deal of smoke coming from nearby Creeley Road. As the fire crew approached, they heard local alarms blaring. While expecting the worse, the firefighters discovered that the smoke was coming from a tenant who was barbecuing with a propane grill on a second-floor porch. But when the firefighters told the man to stop his particularly dangerous cooking technique, the tenant basically told the firefighters to mind their own business and shove off. While most men have a love for grilling, this resident took his passion for a great BBQ to a safety extreme. When asked once again to halt using an open flame on a wooden deck(!), the second-floor chef wished the fire crew to take off and leave him alone. Faced with an obstinate griller who could potentally BBQ his own house, the fire department called their colleagues at the police department. That did the trick and the cook brought down two propane tanks on the porch; one was a spare and the other was connected to the grill. The tenant was told to remove the grill from its perch as soon as it cooled down. A first-floor tenant was advised of the situation just in case her fellow lodger had an urge for outdoor cooking.

Afternoon lockout

Sept. 24 – At exactly 5 p.m., fire crews were sent to an Orchard Street home where they helped a tenant to get into their house; they got in through an open attic window.

The elevator is ... working?

Sept. 25 – If you're heading over to the condos at 55 Hill Road, take the stairs. For the second time in two weeks, fire crews were sent to the multistory building to remove people stuck in a stalled elevator. And those two interventions were not the first two times this has happened.

Laundry flare up

Sept. 26 – Just before 8 p.m., Engine 2, Engine 1, Ladder 1, and Rescue 1 were sent to a Louise Road house for a reported house on fire. The Engine 2 crew rushed into the basement and found a gas-fired clothes dryer in flames. The fire was extinguished with a dry-chemical extinguisher while other crews got lines and hoses into the house. Companies ventilated and checked if the fire had spread into the house. The clothes dryer was removed from the building and the gas supply line shut down.

A reason to quit smoking, part I

Sept. 26 – A half hour before midnight, a resident of a Trapelo Road house went outside for a final smoke before bed. And forgot his keys. And locked himself out. And didn't have a spare set of keys hidden outside. When fire crews arrived, they discovered that all the windows and doors were shut and locked. So the tenant signed a release form for the Belmont Fire Department and told them to break the door knob of the front door. He finally got in.

A reason to quit smoking, part II

Sept. 28 – Just before sunrise, Engine 1 and Command Car 3 were dispatched to Franklin Street for a reported outside fire. When it arrived, Engine 1 reported that the fire – which was extinguished – was actually on the inside of the
attached porch. It turns out that the home owner's son was getting in his first cigarette of the day on the back porch around 5:15 a.m. before going back inside and take a shower before heading off to work. A few minutes later, the son said he heard a popping sound. Looking outside, he saw a chair on the porch was on fire just a few feet from the main house. Lickety split, father and son got down the stairs and outside to put out the flames with a garden hose. They then removed the chair to the backyard and called the fire department. As a precaution companies used a Class A extinguisher to wet an approximately two- foot circular area of burnt porch. The father assisted by continuing to soak the chair and porch area with his garden hose. The Fire Department commander at the scene advised the son to be more careful with his smoking habits.

Building burner burned too much

Sept. 29 – Fire crews were once again on Creeley Road but fortunately not for any balcony barbecuing, but for a 2:30 p.m. fire that started by a building's malfunctioning oil-fuel burner. When it arrived, the Engine 1 crew brought in a fire hose to put out the flames which had extended outside of the burner's housing and into a void space between the exterior wall and the panel of the boiler. Engine 2 hooked up a line from a hydrant on Slade Street. Some occupants evacuated prior to arrival and the on-site commander ordered Rescue 1 to evacuate all remaining occupants.